Telephone-exchange system



Sept. 15, 1925-.

. .U. s. FORD TELEPHONE EXCHANGE SYSTEM Filed May 5-, 1924 M H M QUE?.m. WI mm? mm? .MMZ

a .4. m m z .WUa 5g? Hz U w H a 6 Patented Sept. 15, 1925.

UNITED. STATES ULYSSES S. FORD, OF HOLLIS, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 WESTERNELECTRIC COM- I PATENT OFFICE.

IPANY, INCORPORATED, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

TELEPHONE-EXCHANGE SYSTEM.

Application filed May 5,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ULYssns S. FORD, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Hollis, Long Island, in the county .of Queens andState of New York, have invented certain new and useful Im provements inTelephone-Exchange Systerns, of which the following is a full, clear,concise, and exact description.

My. invention relates to improvements in telephone exchange systems, andparticularly to trunking systems between operators positions in the sameor difi'erent oflices.

In such trunking systems, it is common practice to provide order-wirecircuits so that the operators may converse with one another in order toassign trunks, etc. Each order wire is ordinarily provided with anindividual button or key for connecting the operators telephone set withits associated order-wire.

In case a large number of order-wires are employed, a' row or severalrows of buttons are provided arranged in strips or banks and occupyconsiderable space on the keyshelf of the switch-board.

The main object of my invention is to reduce the number of such buttonsand at the same time increase the number of orderwire circuits.

This result is accomplished by cooperation between the buttons wherebyif one button alone is operated a certain order wire circuit isselected, but if two adjacent buttons are simultaneously operated, adifferent or-' der wire circuit is selected.

My invention is illustrated in the accom panying drawing:

The operators telephone set comprises the usual receiver R, transmitterT, induction coil I, coils 1 and 3, condenser C, and battery supply 2.At the top of the drawing are shown diagrammatically four groups oftrunks terminating in jacks 10 to 17 inclusive extending to otheroflices.

Associated with each group of trunks is an order wire circuit such as 6,7, 8 and 9. A portion of two rows or strips of order buttons are shown.The first row contains the buttons X and A, while the second rowcontains the buttons Y and B. Although but two buttons are shown in eachrow it is understood that any number of buttons may be used. Associatedwith each button are 1924. Serial No. 711,036.

two relays utilized when adjacent buttons are operated.

The operation of the system is as follows:

In case the operator wishes to trunk a call to the X office, she willdepress the button X which will connect the telephone set to theorder-wire circuit extending to the operator at the X ofiice. Thetelephone set is connected to the order-wire circuit as follows:

Conductors 5, contacts 20 of relay E, contacts 21 of button X,order-wire circuit 6 to the X office. The operator at the X ofliceassigns a trunk such as 10 in the group whereupon the first operatorplaces the plug of one of the cord circuits into the assigned jack. I

In case the call is to. be extended to the Y'office, the operatordepresses button Y, thereby connecting the telephone set to theorder-wire circuit 7 by way of conductors 5. In case the call is to beextended to the Z oflice, the operator depresses buttons X'and Y at thesame time. This causes the operation of relays H, G,- E and F by closingthe following circuit: ground, winding of relay I'I, winding of relay G,contacts 28 of the button Y, 30, contacts 29 of button X, winding ofrelay E, winding of relay F, battery to ground. The operation of relaysE and G connects the conductors 5 extending to the telephone set to theorderwire circuit 8 as follows: conductors 5, contacts 23 of relay G,contacts 22 of relay E, order wire circuit 8 to oflice Z.

The operation of relays E and F disconnects the telephone set from thecontacts of button X preventing its connection to the order-wire 6. Theoperation of relays G and H likewise disconnects the telephone set fromthe contacts of button Y preventing its connection to order-wire 7.

In case a call is to be extended to ofiice Z the operator depressesbuttons X and A. The operation of these two buttons completes thefollowing circuit: ground, winding of relay J, winding of relay I,contacts 26 of button A, 32, 31, 30, contacts 29 of button X, winding ofrelay E, winding-of relay F, battery 50 to ground.

The operation of relays F and J connects the operators telephone set tothe order wire circuit 9 as follows: conductors 5, contacts 35 of relayJ, conductors 36 contacts 37 of relay F, conductors 9 to office Z Fromthe foregoing it will be noted that the depression of two buttons X andY select an additional circuit while the depression of buttons X and Aalso selects an additional circuit. The co-operation of buttons X, Y andA brings into service two circuits in addition to the three circuitsallotted to buttons X, Y and A.

While I have shown two relays, allotted to each button, in order toprovide but a small number of contacts for each relay it of coursefollows that all contacts may be placed on one relay.

That I claim is:

1. In a telephone exchange system, the combination of a plurality oforder buttons, a plurality of circuits greater than the number of saidbuttons, an operators telephone set, a relay individual to each button,means controlled by the actuation of a certain of said buttons tomaintain the relay inclividual thereto in a desired condition to connectsaid telephone set to a corresponding one of said circuits, and meanscontrolled by the actuation of said key and other of said keys to changethe condition of said relay and other of said relays to cause theconnection of said telephone set to other of said circuits.

2. In a telephone exchange system, the combination of a plurality oforder buttons arranged in rows, a plurality of circuits greater thanthenumber of said buttons, a telephone set, means controlled by theoperation of a single button for connecting the telephone set to aparticular circuit, and means controlled by the operation of said buttonand a button in any of said rows for connecting said telephone set todiflerent circuits. v

3. In a telephone exchange system, the combinationof a plurality oforder buttons a circuit individual to each button, an operatorstelephone set, means controlled by the operation of each of said buttonsto connect the circuit individual thereto to said telephone set,additional circuits, and means controlled by the simultaneous operationof one of said buttons with various of said buttons to variously connectsaid telephone set to said additional circuits.

4. In a telephone exchange system, the combination of a plurality oforder buttons arranged in a row, a circuit individual to each button, anoperators telephone set, means controlled by the operation of a singlebutton to connect its individual circuit to said telephone set,additional circuits, arelay individual to each button, means con trolledby the operation of a plurality of buttons for operating said relays. toconnect said telephone set to said additional circuits. 7

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 29th day of April,A. D.

ULYSSES sFoRD.

